O'Neill asked the Illinois Supreme Court for help, and the Court sent Effingham County Circuit Judge Steven Seymour.

Hopkins Goldenberg moved to disqualify the Lakin firm from representing Buckles due to close ties between the Lakins and Simmons.

Simmons appeared and still appears on Lakin letterhead as, "of counsel."

At a hearing on disqualification Dripps said, "Mrs. Buckles has indicated she does not wish to sue the Simmons firm and she has waived any potential conflict."

Seymour asked if Simmons could be a witness, and Dripps said he could.

"The only way I see that Mr. Simmons of your firm can continue is if you tell me that you will accept a ruling that Mr. Simmons will not be called upon to testify for you in the case in chief, in rebuttal or for impeachment purposes," Seymour said.

When Dripps tried to separate Simmons from the Lakin firm, Seymour said, "He is of counsel. What does that mean?"

"In the context of this case I don't think it means a thing," Dripps said.

Buckles said, "I told them the story of what happened to us and offered my support to the family," she said.

Konicek didn't follow the point until she said, "Bowling Green. It was Chrysler, I think. It was a car maker."

She said Simmons offered her to do screenings with him.

"I was the main speaker there," she said.

"I told the story of our life and I begged them to be tested," she said.

She said they did screenings in St. Louis with auto dealers about brake pads.

The case bogged down, and Mendelsohn delayed trial twice.

On July 13, 2005, with trial nine days away, Goldenberg's firm renewed the motion to disqualify the Lakin firm.

Konicek argued that representations made to Seymour were no longer accurate.

"At the time and still today, Mr. Simmons is directly affiliated with the Lakin Law Firm," Konicek wrote.

"He is listed on the letterhead, his office is in the same building as the Lakin Law Firm, he is paid in excess of $5,000/month by the Lakin Law Firm on some sort of retainer agreement that has never been fully explained by either Simmons or the Lakin Law Firm, and he is known throughout Madison County as one in the same with the Lakin Law Firm's asbestos litigation," he wrote.

He wrote that Seymour would have granted disqualification if facts had come to light.

"The only way they could utilize Mr. Simmons as a material witness in this legal malpractice action was to disqualify Judge Seymour," he wrote.

He claimed that Buckles sued Simmons as a ruse to disqualify Seymour.

Buckles moved the next day to continue the trial, and Mendelsohn pushed it back to Sept. 12.